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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Looking at the comments that were made since I posted, I must agree with Samantha Atkins, Karim, and Buck Farmer. The article in question gave what was at the very least reasonable advice and was probably the best advice that could be given under the circumstances.

More to the point it indicates a potential problem. I've enjoyed it Robin Hanson’s exposure of hypocrisy, but constantly looking for underlying motives can lead one to forget that sometimes” a cigar is just a cigar”, i.e., the purported reasons that someone is doing something may in fact be their real reasons . If one is constantly looking for secret motives, it would probably be wise to employ a form of Occam’s razor to the behavior of other people; assume that their stated motive is their true motive unless it is clearly not. (Most people would probably be wise to make the opposite assumption.)

Second, something may not be objectively true, but still be very good operational advice. Take the sixth point in the posting: “We assume everyone is reasonable until they clearly prove otherwise.” Assuming everyone is reasonable is way too optimistic, but making that assumption is probably the best way to deal with people in 21st-century America. How much clarity should be required before discarding the assumption is a matter of judgment.

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Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

Agreed. This like most human interactions has to be an emotional play.

Another tactic I find works well if you're fairly new to your career is trying to trigger your boss's sense of magnanimity by asking for help. The point being to reaffirm your vertical relationship and take advantage of human instinctive or culturally inculcated habits for superiors to look after inferiors who are not challenging the hierarchy and are in need of help.

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